To the editor:
Call me sentimental, but my views of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are such that they were created for the purpose of limiting the powers of the federal government.
Even the 10th Amendment basically states that the federal government has only the powers granted to it by the U.S. Constitution, and all other powers are given to the states themselves. So this would make the case that any federally-run health care plan would be unconstitutional, but if the states wanted to run their own they could. Such as what we have here in Massachusetts, called Masshealth.
I have to admit, in my heart, that I believe the federally-run Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs are all models based on socialism, and all are now negatively affecting the economic output of America and have made today's working class beholden to over-taxation without representation. Did you know that Social Security is the largest government-run program in the world — that it takes up seven percent of America's GDP and takes up 20 percent of our federal spending with $650 billion in payments in 2009?
My basic problem with Social Security is this: Am I a truly free man when I am forced by federal taxation of my money that I earn so it can be given to support someone else over 67 — and somewhere else in America? Now, you might say that when I retire I will receive a check. But that money that I receive will have to be earned and taxed by someone else. Doesn't that sound like some kind of Ponzi scheme to you? Why does my federal government put me in financial bondage to someone else?
The other big problem is this: In a decade or two, the Social Security program will become insolvent where there will not be enough tax revenue coming in to make the payouts to retirees like myself.
So what will happen? The government will have to either start printing money by the billions or borrow billions more from China and elsewhere. Are you ready for that? What if I die tomorrow? I will never see a penny of all of the FICA taxes that have been taken out of my paycheck.
We also pay out the most in government run health care in all of the industrialized nations in the world with Medicare and Medicaid. The main point I'm trying to make is that working class taxpayers, like myself and millions like me, are tapped out. Obama's health care plan has more than $500 billion in new working class taxation over the next 10 years.
That cannot stand. Instead of working suckers like me paying higher taxes, why not make others pay for any new federal health care expenditures? Why not make those who break laws pay for new health care costs — so when you speed or blow a stop sign, you have to pay a national heath care "fee" of $50.
Let's say you commit a misdemeanor, such as stealing or breaking and entering, the price you then have to pay to nationalized health care would be $100 — and for a felony your tax would by $200. Now, for all those who are caught using and selling drugs, you get to pay $250 per offense to the national health care plan. Hey, if you have enough money to afford the drug use, then your government wants to put your extra money to work for others.
Some may call me "heartless" or "selfish," but I'm just trying to be a self-reliant person through my own hard work.
Dean Burgess
Bass Avenue, Gloucester
